The Barna Group released an interesting survey earlier this week that explores social networking as well as how Americans use digital technology to get the products, services, and content they desire. The research identifies the mainstream – as well as emerging – platforms and practices.
Here's a portion, this part about social networking and blogs:
The Internet helps individuals express themselves. Millions of Americans have taken advantage of this, launching personal websites and blogs (short for "weblogs"). While these personal venues for self-expression have become a significant feature of the online landscape, most Americans remain on the digital sidelines: just one-quarter of computer users (23%) has a personal webpage or home page on a social networking site (such as Facebook or MySpace).
Even fewer adults have a personal blog where they communicate their ideas and experiences (10% of Americans with regular access to a computer). Interestingly, an even higher proportion of computer users (14%) had posted a comment on another person’s blog in the last week.
Blogging has not reached the "tipping point" towards becoming a mainstream activity (an emerging technology is often thought to "tip" toward majority use when the penetration reaches 20% or more of the population). Still, there are an estimated 16 million American adults who use their blog as a pulpit to broadcast their voice to the world. Blogs are most common among single adults, Northeast residents, homosexuals, those not registered to vote, and atheists and agnostics.
One other insight related to blogs is the sheer devotion many bloggers find in the pursuit, rarely letting their online journals grow dark. More than seven out of 10 people who have a blog update the online journal at least once a week.
To read the rest of the survey, including the part about the socially networked church, click here.
Now let's blog about it. {{grin}}
-rlh-
